ST. LOUIS -- It's not official yet, but after two days of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, Penn State's run of four-straight national titles appears to be nearing an end.

In sixth-place after Friday night's semifinal round with 58.0 points, Penn State trails first-place Ohio State by nearly 20. Only five PSU wrestlers remain in competition, all of which are now All-Americans, but only 174-pound senior Matt Brown will compete for an individual title Saturday night in the Scottrade Center. Meanwhile, the Buckeyes have three finalists, while Iowa (73.0) has one and Cornell (66.5) and Edinboro (64.5) have two each.

With Penn State's entire incoming freshman class redshirted, along with two All-Americans, many fans and media counted PSU out of the team race long before the tournament even began. Not Brown, however. At least not until Friday night.

"We never thought we were ever out of the team race," Brown said. "I don't think you can after you go 7-0 in the first round. We were in it, but there are just a lot of tough competitors."

Despite qualifying only seven wrestlers, Penn State crowned five All-Americans. Brown and Jimmy Gulibon (133) secured their honors during Friday's morning session. In the afternoon, Jordan Conaway (125), Morgan McIntosh (197) and Jimmy Lawson (285) punched their AA ticket, too.

After falling in the quarterfinal Friday morning, Conaway rebounded with a win against American's David Terao, 8-6, to garner his first career All-America honor. Conaway then fell in his next consolation match, 10-1, to returning finalist Nahshon Garrett of Cornell. At 133, Gulibon dropped a violent nail-biter to Iowa's Cory Clark in the semifinal, 7-5, and will continue wrestling in the consolations Saturday.

After dropping a close 3-2 decision to Duke's Conner Hartmann in the quarters, McIntosh rebounded with two-straight consolation wins in order to claim his second-career All-America citation. In his first consi match, McIntosh led a commanding 8-3 victory over Wyoming's Shane Woods, before topping Iowa's Nathan Burak, 6-3, in the ensuing match.

After McIntosh, Lawson beat Missouri's Devin Mellon, 4-1, to secure Penn State's fifth and final All-America honor. It was also the first for his career. Lawson then followed that up with another win over Virginia Tech's Ty Walz, 3-1, in overtime.

"That's definitely a big weight lifted off my chest," Lawson said after beating Mellon. "I wanted to accomplish so many things when I came back to wrestling. All-America? I like that."

For the final day of the tournament, Gulibon, McIntosh and Lawson are still alive to place as high as third. Conaway, meanwhile, will wrestle for seventh.

Then there's Brown, who edged Iowa's Mike Evans, 1-0, in the 174-pound semifinal. It was the third occasion Brown beat Evans this season and the sixth time in nine career matchups.

"We thought he was actually going to change up the strategy a little bit," Brown said, still out of breath from the thriller. "But the coaches instructed that (shouldn't) really change up my strategy going in. We didn't think he'd go bottom, which he didn't. We thought he'd shoot more, so we were kind of expecting that."

With the victory, Brown is set to make his second career appearance in the NCAA final Saturday night (8 p.m., ET) on ESPN. Facing Tyler Wilps of Pitt, Brown will be looking for a different outcome as a senior after suffering a 2-1 loss to Oklahoma State's Chris Perry as a sophomore.

"Two years ago was the first time I was here at the NCAA tournament," Brown recalled. "I wasn't complacent at all, but I was definitely ecstatic just to be in the finals. I wrestled a real tough match, ended up dropping it in overtime, a loss. So I didn't celebrate after the quarters, becoming an All-American, because that's not my goal (this year). I'll have a chance to accomplish that tomorrow."

1: Ohio State - 86.5

2: Iowa - 73.0

3: Cornell - 66.5

4: Edinboro - 64.5

5: Missouri - 60.0

6: Penn State - 58.0